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Freudenberg rehab shows faith in city

The Lowell Sun

Updated:
12/27/2012 07:51:57 AM EST

You have to hand it to Trinity Financial, the Boston development company in charge of the $800 million renewal of Lowell's Hamilton Canal District.

It's already demonstrated its resilience by going forward and successfully completing the first phase of this ambitious undertaking -- the Appleton Mills project, a 130-unit affordable-housing complex -- in a difficult economic climate.

Trinity has also shown it's not averse to going out on a limb, as it did when company officials spent months trying to convince town officials and the residents of Ayer, Shirley and Harvard of the viability of its proposal to rehab Vicksburg Square in Devens into affordable and market-rate housing, only to see it rejected.

Undeterred, Trinity has stayed on track in Lowell. It just completed an $8.5 million inside-and-out rehab of the 55,000-square-foot Freudenberg Nonwovens building on Canal Street. Its transformation into a prime commercial location was undertaken even though Trinity hadn't received any commitments from potential tenants.

In other words, it was done on faith -- on "spec."

This "rehab-it-and-they-will-come" approach, while not unheard of, is still a gamble, as Trinity officials admittedly point out.

The logic behind this approach does make sense -- aesthetically and economically.

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Freudenberg's makeover turns one of Lowell's eyesores into an attractive edifice.

Also, as commercial real-estate experts point out, prospective tenants, especially in this case, would have a difficult time appreciating the potential in the dilapidated structure Freudenberg had become.

Now, companies can see a building returned to its past glory, equipped with modern amenities, which can be occupied in a matter of months, not years.

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